The Hill: Seattle mayor signs Green New Deal. Here’s what’s in it.

Adam Barnes, The Hill

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on Thursday signed into law Green New Deal legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build community resilience to climate change and increase net zero affordable housing. 

“For the past few days Seattle has been blanketed with smoke-filled skies and choking air quality, with areas of the city like here in the Duwamish Valley, where the life expectancy is eight years shorter than the Seattle average, especially hard hit,” Harrell said in a statement.  

“During times of increasingly severe climate events like these, it’s critical that everyone have access to clean, filtered air and cooling,” Harrell continued. “I am proud to sign today $6.5 million in the Green New Deal Opportunity Fund and look forward to advancing further action in our 2023 proposed budget.” 

Investments in the 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund are the first recommended by Seattle’s Green New Deal Oversight Board. 

The legislation includes $2.4 million to identify and develop “resilience hubs” throughout the city. This will ensure communities have the appropriate support to prepare, respond and recover from climate related emergencies as some bear an unequal burden, the city said. 

“Communities in Seattle—specially in places like the Duwamish Valley—need places to go and ways to connect to each other and services during times of climate emergencies,” Paulina López of the Duwamish River Community Coalition said in a media release. 

Another $2.3 million will target city buildings’ reliance on fossil fuels. The funding is part of the larger effort to get city buildings off fossil fuels by 2035. 

The Green New Deal legislation will put $2 million toward city-funded affordable housing projects. The city said investing in electrification projects in multi-family affordable housing units will avoid pushing residents into decades of climate pollution from fossil fuels. 

There is also $300,000 allocated to support climate data and the Community Health Indicator project, allowing the city to see the larger scope of climate’s impact on transportation and community health among other things. 

“These investments represent a portion of the total $14.5 million for 2022 and the near $20million for 2023 from JumpStart Seattle that is being directed from frontline and fenceline community representatives on the Green New Deal Oversight Board,” Seattle City Council Member Teresa Mosqueda said in the release. 

“As we continue to battle wildfire smoke and see climate impacts worldwide, we must make big, bold investments in forward-thinking, creative solutions to the extreme climate crisis that faces our communities; in particular vulnerable and historically marginalized communities.”

Read the original article here.